Nov. 3, 2011
LEXINGTON, Ky. – University of Kentucky men’s tennis seniors No. 3 Eric Quigley and No. 20 Alex Musialek continued their impressive fall campaigns by claiming first-round wins at the 2011 United States Tennis Association/Intercollegiate Tennis Association National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y., on Thursday.
Quigley began the tournament for Kentucky with a straight-sets win over No. 24 Sadio Doumbia of Georgia. Quigley took control of the first set by winning three straight games to roll to the 6-3 win. In the second set, Quigley broke Doumbia to start the set, before the UGA star broke Quigley in the next game to tie it at 1-1. Quigley would respond by earning another break to go up 4-2 before Doumbia earned a key break at 5-4 with Quigley serving for the match. Quigley would hold down 5-6 to force a tiebreaker and then dominated the tiebreaker en route to a 7-2 win to claim the match. The win over the highly ranked Doumbia is the second of the year for Quigley over the Georgia senior.
The native of Pewee Valley, Ky., has taken down 10 ranked foes this fall season, including six against opponents ranked in the top 25. The senior has a 17-3 record this year and is 135-42 for his career, sitting only nine wins shy of tying the school record for singles wins in a career. Paul Varga (1982-85) holds the school record in career singles wins with a 144-80 post.
This is Quigley’s third-consecutive year to play in the tournament with the senior holding a 6-3 all-time record at the event. Quigley won the singles consolation title at the event last year.
Musialek posted an impressive three-set win over No. 63 Damian Hume of Boise State. The Kentucky senior dominated the first set by sweeping Hume 6-0. In the second set, Musialek and Hume battled back-and-forth holding serve to force a tiebreaker 6-6 before Hume took control in the tiebreaker and won the set. In the decisive third set, Musialek got back to his winning ways by starting the set with a 3-0 lead and then rolling to a 6-3 win to claim the match.
The native of Dax, France, has defeated six ranked players this season. Musialek is 11-3 this fall, having won eight consecutive matches. For his career, Musialek is 89-40 in singles action, ranking him in sole possession of 19th on UK’s career singles wins list.
Action in the tournament will continue Friday with the singles round of 16, followed by the singles quarterfinals. Quigley will square off against No. 10 Sebastian Fanselow of Pepperdine in the second round, while Musialek will battle the tournament’s No. 1-seed Mitchell Frank of Virginia, who is ranked as the top newcomer in the nation by the ITA. Musialek and Frank have never met at the collegiate level, while Quigley defeated Fanselow earlier this season in the ITA All-American Championships consolation draw.
Fans can follow live scores from the 2011 USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships at ITAtennis.com and access real-time updates on the ITA’s Facebook and Twitter pages. There will also be an exclusive live chat throughout the tournament at USTA.com.
As the only tournament on the ITA calendar to showcase elite players from every level of college tennis, the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships serves as the culmination of the fall season. Hosted by Columbia University, this prestigious event features a 32-player singles draw and a 20-team doubles draw for men and women.
Gaining automatic entry into the tournament are champions from the USTA/ITA Division I Regional Championships held across the country in October, winners of the USTA/ITA National Small College Super Bowl, and the consolation champions, doubles finalists and singles quarterfinalists from the ITA Men’s and Riviera/ITA Women’s All-American Championships.
In many cases, the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships has served as a springboard to success for players at the US Open, which is also played at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. At the 2011 US Open alone, 1992 National Indoor singles champion Lisa Raymond (Florida) won the women’s doubles title, 2006 National Indoor doubles champion John Isner (Georgia) reached the singles quarterfinals, and 2007 National Indoor doubles champions Somdev Devvarman and Treat Conrad Huey (Virginia) reunited to win two rounds in doubles.
For more information on the Kentucky men’s tennis team, follow “UKMensTennis” on Twitter or search “University of Kentucky Men’s Tennis Team” on Facebook.
USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships
USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center – Flushing, N.Y.
Singles Main Draw First Round – Nov. 3, 2011
No. 3 Eric Quigley (Kentucky) def. No. 24 Sadio Doumbia (Georgia) 6-3, 7-6 (2)
No. 20 Alex Musialek (Kentucky) def. No. 63 Damian Hume (Boise State) 6-0, 6-7, 6-3
Friday, November 4th – 9 a.m.
Men’s Singles Round of 16
– No. 3 Eric Quigley (Kentucky) vs. No. 10 Sebastian Fanselow (Pepperdine)
– No. 20 Alex Musialek (Kentucky) vs. Mitchell Frank (Virginia)
Men’s Singles Consolation
Men’s Singles Quarterfinals
Saturday, November 5th – 9 a.m.
Men’s Singles Consolation Quarterfinals
Men’s Singles Semifinals
Men’s Singles Consolation Semifinals
Sunday, November 6th – 10 a.m.
Men’s Consolation Finals
Men’s Singles Finals
Several Wildcats Head to Athens for Bulldog Scramble: Four members of the University of Kentucky men’s tennis team will head south to participate in the Bulldog Scramble this weekend in Athens, Ga., hosted by the University of Georgia.
Kentucky men’s tennis head coach Dennis Emery will send four Wildcats to the event in sophomores Alejandro Gomez, Panav Jha, Ryuji Hirooka and Maks Gold. All four sophomores have played well this fall, especially Gomez who has a 12-1 record. Jha is at 7-4 this fall after advancing to the quarterfinals of the USTA/ITA Ohio Valley Regional Indoor Championships. Hirooka and Gold have had most of their success this season playing doubles together with the duo winning the Southern Intercollegiate division II doubles title. Last week, Hirooka advanced to the consolation finals at the USTA/ITA Ohio Valley Regional Indoor Championships.
The round robin event will feature players from six schools, including Clemson, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Georgia State and Vanderbilt.
